Multimedia, Online Cases to Improve Students’ Communication and Learning

in the Disciplines

David R. Russell

Dave Fisher

Terrell Robbins

Tom Bowers

Many other collaborators

Iowa State University

WAC 2004

Role-playing Learning Environments--Cases/Simulations

• Cases have been found to be effective in teaching communication and content (Troyka 1975)

• Re-mediated with audio, video, graphics, text, & databases – To increase involvement & motivation

– To integrate communication learning and content learning

• Time-consuming to develop so:– Used in multiple courses and disciplines

– Created with authoring tool called MyCase

Each case includes:

• A scenario giving a problem (adaptable for different courses/disciplines)

• Characters / roles /stakeholders• Multi-media information sources (video,

audio, graphics, documents, data) drawn from different disciplines/professions

• Assignments that require students to communicate about the problem as they learn concepts/information from multiple disciplines (adaptable for different courses/disciplines)

Three Multi-Media Online Caseshttp://mycase.engl.iastate.edu/

Huntington’s Disease (Robert’s World)Biotechnology (Genetics)First-Year Composition (English)

GMO’s-Golden Rice (Omega Molecular)Tech Comm (Ag & Biosystems Engineering) Bioethics (Philosophy & Extension)

Business Planning (Agile Motorcycle)Senior Capstone (Business Management)Business Ethics --projected (Philosophy)

“Caught in the Act”

“Docuverse”

Case Elements: Workspace renderings

Presentational Pedagogy

• Scribo (Danish academic writing)– Lotte Rienecker, U Copenhagen (CD Rom)

• Writing Studio (many genres)– writing.colostate.edu

• Labwrite (lab reports) RTE May 2004– labwrite.ncsu.edu

Re-mediation

Our work builds Bolter and Grusin’s notion of remediation and considers this type of intervention in school settings:

– More than simply adding video and pictures– Making teaching/learning (including Web-

based) new– Radical rethinking of curriculum and

assessment

Re-mediation: An Example from Biology

Biotechnology in Agriculture, Food and Human Health (Genetics 308/508)

–Course goals:“Scientific principles and techniques of biotechnology. Biotechnology products and applications. Ethical, legal and social issues related to biotechnology.”–Re-mediation goals:“. . . add a more human element.”

Re-mediation: Apparent activities

Ethnography– Interviews with experts

– Observations of experts at work

– Collection of documents generated/used by stakeholders

Dramatization– “Interviews” with Robert and family

– Family documents (including tax returns, bills, etc.)

Remediation: Not-so-apparent activities

• Rendering virtual space to enable type of learning activities desired (“wander” “explore”)

• Developing assignments that encourage students to “wander,” “explore,” and “use”

• Developing assessment practices that provide incentive to engage in these activities

Space: Before

Space: After

Consider Robert, the protagonist from our Huntington's Disease saga in Module 2. Suppose he decides to get the Huntington's Disease test, and he is found to be positive for the Huntington's allele. His employer, the airline (a private corporation), finds out that Robert is positive for the Huntington's allele, and transfers him to a desk job without his consent. Under federal law, are the airline's actions legal? Why or why not?

Assignment: Before

Assignment: AfterYou are a genetic counselor at the University of Metropolis Medical Center. You have an upcoming appointment in a few hours with a new client named Lois Lane. In speaking with Ms. Lane's gynecologist, who referred Ms. Lane to you, you found out that Ms. Lane has a family history of early-onset breast cancer on her mother's side of the family. Her mother died of metastatic breast cancer at the age of 48, her grandmother at 52, and her mother's brother died of male breast cancer at 63. Ms. Lane, who is now 41, is concerned that she may carry a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation that is sometimes correlated with a higher risk of early-onset familial breast cancer. She wishes to have a genetic test done to determine if she is indeed carrying a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation, and her doctor concurs that the information would be useful. However, in talking to the doctor, you have also learned that Ms. Lane has an identical twin sister named Lucy Lane who is adamantly opposed to any genetic test being performed on religious grounds. Faced with the dilemma of two sisters who share the same genetic complement but wanting two quite different levels of knowledge about what genes they have, write a detailed plan for what you would tell and want to discuss with Lois Lane at the first counseling session.

Assessment:Not just “knowing made manifest”

. . .BioProf: Well even if you take this first one. Look at team one. This person goes into exquisite detail about what PCR reaction is. I don’t care about what the . . . I’m assuming they know how to do PCR.WAC1: Well, are you? I mean that’s what I’m asking. Here. Would you rather they put in this explanation of this stuff that . . .BioProf: I don’t like that.WAC1: Oh, you don’t like that.BioProf: That’s just my feeling.WAC1: Oh. Oh.. . .BioProf: All he would need to do or say is “they did PCR.” We’ve already tested them on that. I don’t need to have all the details of the PCR. What I want to know is, you know, do they do, you know, do they understand [?] PCR, amplify the DNA and how that’s going to get them a signal that’s gonna be . . . that’s what . . . I’m wanting them to put these technologies together, not go back and describe each individual . . .. . .

Re-mediation and working with faculty in the disciplines

Faculty who seem open to the challenges of re-mediating a case are:

– Want to see writing as something other than (explicit) “knowing made manifest,” especially when students are responding in role knowing-in-role has more tacit expression

– Are willing to learn about the communicative activities in fields related to theirs as well as work outside the university while participating in re-mediation project

Freedman, Adam, Smart (1994)

Re-mediation: What we’ve learned so far

• Alteration of case/scenario (asking different/more relevant questions)

• Re-visioning of “core content” by faculty in disciplines

• Detailed attention to representations of space and time (and getting students to explore that space in “game” time)

Graphics and Design Approach

People in biology were interested in:– Adding “human element” to course– Encouraging students to explore and discover

• Navigate through a “world”

– Creating environment with exteriors and interiors

Stage 1: Exterior

Stage 1: Interior

Reasons for Change

• Presentation too flat– No ability to explore and become involved

• No differentiation of interiors (lab, home, etc.)

• Pictures of people on homepage didn’t give the “feel” biology faculty were looking for (“how can you tell this is an insurance agency just by looking?”)

Stage 2

Reasons for Change

Discipline– Exterior too compact—doesn’t allow students to

“wander” (explore)“This is probably more artistically interesting, but [a map] may be more educationally sound.”

– Airplane in flight over buildings too reminiscent of 9/11– Interior: floor-plan layout doesn’t allow for depiction of

key equipment

Technical– Color-rich raster graphics result in unacceptable

download times

Stage 3: Exterior

Stage 3: Interior

Observations

People in biology were interested in:– Adding “human element” to course– Encouraging students to explore and discover

• Navigate through a “world”

– Creating environment with exteriors and interiors

Limits of Teaching Argument in FYC

• Students lack any real knowledge of the complexity of the issue

• Students have not learned to think about how their position may affect others

• Papers result in pointless arguments among people who do not care much about the outcome(Lynch, George, and Cooper 1997)

Sequence of Case Assignments

• Background Report to Counselor

• Letter to Robert

• Position Paper Role—airline employer

Purpose—Determine course of action with respect to Robert’s future with the company

Acquire Real Knowledge of the Complexity of the Issue

• Legal Issues

“I have the responsibility to Robert because ‘it is unlawful for employers to hire or fire anyone because of genetic information.’” (ADA)

• Medical Issues

“Although Robert does carry the gene, it is very possible that the disease could take years for symptoms to show.”

Identify How Their Position May Affect Others

• Ethical Issues“Robert has been a hardworking and dedicated pilot for us. I have been able to know him professionally and personally. He has a family to support, and I feel that I have an obligation as a friend and an employer to provide another job for him.”

Identify How Their Position May Affect Others

• Ethical Issues“I believe good employees are hard to find and since Robert has spent years at my company with no problems so far, I have an obligation to him and his family as well.”

“Finding Robert another job within the company is the most ethical and economically beneficial choice available. I will be able to utilize his skills in another way and help his family.”

Construct Arguments Among People Who Care About The

Outcome

• “I felt a closer tie to the people involved. I’m dealing with a serious decision in one man’s life.”

• “The more personal connection makes me think harder about what to do and what to write.”

• “As an employer, it [the position] affects you personally. What are the things I want for the company and for him [Robert]?”

Preparation for/Integration with WID

• Students exposed to communication in disciplines/professions by acting in role of professionals

• Understand the human and social dimensions of disciplinary knowledge as well as technical / factual information

• Take responsibility for and recognize the legal and ethical aspects of a professional role